CREATING SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITY STRUCTURES FOR REINTEGRATED LIBERIAN CHILD SOLDIERS: PART I

Rialize Ferreira, Alfred Stuart Mutiti

Abstract

This article deals with the socio-political context of the Liberian civil war. It gives background to the conflict, explains how the different factions emerged and how they involved children in the conflict to be reintegrated afterwards. It examines how different community structures are identified during the reintegration processes of child soldiers and questions whether the right structures are identified. To address these issues, the question is asked: What international and regional efforts and policies were created to address the problem of sustainable reintegration of child soldiers? It is necessary to focus on legal frameworks that protect children in armed conflicts and frameworks where the International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights Law provisions are stipulated. The role of the community in the social reintegration process is crucial, and documented literature on common mistakes made in working with community structures by the different actors are explained. However, the type of community structures to bring on board in the reintegration programmes is still a challenge. The qualitative research design, based on the Functionalist theoretical perspective, to gather data on creating sustainable community structures will briefly be mentioned to explain how research questions were answered and resolved.

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